Helena Partnerships is a Registered Provider of housing in Merseyside. It was formed in 2002 as Helena Housing following a large-scale voluntary transfer of the housing stock from St Helens Council.
The company (which has also been a registered charity since December 2004) has its own in-house legal team which is relatively unusual within the housing sector. Since 2002 the team has grown from one solicitor and two law clerks to a team of 3 solicitors, a trainee legal executive, 2 legal assistants and a Board and Governance Officer.
Cath Phillips, Company Solicitor, who heads the team previously worked for a local authority which had gone through the Lexcel accreditation process and was therefore familiar with some of the expectations of the Law Society.
It was a long-held ambition to try and obtain accreditation but, as an extremely busy section for a newly formed company it had to be delayed due to competing priorities. However in 2005, ever-conscious of the requirement for high levels of customer satisfaction, the team did undertake internal feedback on the service it provided and made changes to its processes as a result.
In spring 2008 initial work was commenced to find out the options available for obtaining Lexcel accreditation. Different tasks were distributed between the team with the lead being taken by one of the Legal Assistants, Leanne Helm. Following discussions with Assessment North East the pre-assessment route was chosen as being the most suitable for the team. The initial assessment took place at the end of November 2008 and with only a couple of minor non-compliances to overcome, the final assessment was undertaken in March 2009 when the team was thrilled to receive the news that it had been successful in achieving the accreditation. The team was even more delighted when it was subsequently confirmed that it was the first Registered Provider in-house legal team in England and Wales to have been awarded accreditation by the Law Society.
Cath Phillips said "This has been a tremendous effort with everyone making a valuable contribution to the team’s success. We must now strive to keep up the good work and improve our services to our clients even further. The assistance of Assessment North East cannot be underestimated in helping us to achieve this target. The next phase in our development will be to explore the possibility of providing our services to other Housing Associations and with the award of the Lexcel accreditation we can demonstrate our commitment to a high quality service.”